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Shingles is a viral illness that affects a variety of locations throughout the body. It most often causes a painful skin rash on the trunk, abdomen or torso. Less commonly, the rash can be found on the arms or legs. Shingles may also affect the head, face, eyes, mouth or ear.
Shingles can cause changes to your body that are mild and annoying or serious and debilitating. The first symptoms of shingles are usually tingling pain, a burning sensation, or itching. These symptoms can affect any part of the body, but commonly turn up on one side of the waist or one side of the face. A few days or more after the pain and itching start, a person with shingles develops blisters on the skin of the affected body part. This skin rash clears up in a few weeks.